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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26280679">crack me open if you please</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lover_of_blue_roses/pseuds/lover_of_blue_roses'>lover_of_blue_roses</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Maycury 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst with a Happy Ending, Battle, Fighting, Hurt No Comfort, Implied Violence, M/M, Maycury Week 2020 (Queen), Queen are Magic Wielding Warriors, Self-Sacrifice, Soul Bond, like pg-13 kind of stuff, marriage bond, saving your loved one</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:48:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,126</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26280679</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lover_of_blue_roses/pseuds/lover_of_blue_roses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At first Freddie thinks this pain is from the battle, but no he is unscathed, which must mean that this is coming from his marriage bond. Something's happened to Brian!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Brian May/Freddie Mercury</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Maycury 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904278</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Maycury_Week_2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>crack me open if you please</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>you know me, i see a 'magic au' prompt and i just yeet. i love fantasy shit</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The battle rages on fiercely and Freddie can feel the savage smile that stretches his face as the bloodlust overtakes him. He'd been doing so well, not just him but all of his squadrons and their sires when a pain lances through him. Yet he... hadn't been hit? He looks down, fearing an arrow piercing through his plate, but there was nothing. </p><p>Still he feels it, ripping, tearing up deep inside of himself. Deep like- Freddie gasps, even as he tries to remain focused on the fight in front of him. They'd known battle before but never like this one. Lasting so long, so many enemies to face. Which means- that Brian has never used this much magic before. </p><p>What Freddie is feeling is Brian's half of their bond ripping. Which means- It is nearly a fatal amount, if he keeps going like this... Only death could separate a marriage bond. "No, no stop!" But his words are consumed by the sounds of the battle still raging all around them. They've managed to turn the tide, and are posed to win, but it is still far from over.</p><p>Freddie doesn't know what he can do, mired down as he is surrounded by the enemy. He lashes out with his sword, magic dancing on the blade. The steel passes through the protective charms and the magic through the armour, but no matter how skilled he is he'll never make it there in time. This pain is nearly debilitating, far more than magical exhaustion has ever been. Brian probably doesn't even know what he is doing, they've never discussed this as a side effect of them marrying, Freddie hadn't even ever considered it. But now it is ripping him up from the inside like a serrated blade being dragged through his flesh. </p><p>"AH!" Freddie's screams are no longer battlecries but it makes no difference to his foes that fall before him regardless. When he has the slightest of breathing room, just a moment might be all he needs, he reaches within himself to try and use their bond. He has to be careful because just a moment might also be all that is needed to defeat him. </p><p>Normally their bond could be used like this as a source of comfort and warmth, the embodiment of their love, but this time Freddie will send out something far less kind. He doesn't send down anger or desperation least Brian think that *Freddie* is the one in need- Freddie hadn't thought of that. Yes a strain of magic would cause eventual death, and such a slow death would rip their marriage bond, but so would injury. Maybe Brian was wounded, bleeding out at this very moment.</p><p>The thought, the *horrifying* thought, is so overwhelming that Freddie misses his opportunity to express anything through their bond before again he must sink into the tide of the battle. What good is this, any of this, if Brian won't be there by his side? All their training, all these battles, even the war itself will mean nothing if Brian is not here to celebrate it with him. Even if they were to lose, a small part of Freddie's mind whispers for doubt is not to be entertained, Freddie would still rather have nothing again than not have Brian.</p><p>His magic, normally indigo and inky, has grown brittle and dark as it lashes out in sharp spikes. If he can't control himself, he won't be able to win, but his worry and terror are unstoppable as they manifest themselves in his magic. If he doesn't focus, Brian could lose more than he already stands too. But how can he focus, how can he find his center, when the very soul of him is being ripped apart, his love tearing away from him agonizingly. Freddie's simply never been more frightened in his entire life.</p><p>Yet as much as his pain darkens his visions and sticks in his lungs, it makes him lethal. The world is slowed around him as his focus zeros in. The frontline has long since ceased to exist as the enemy was swamped and overtaken, so as Freddie seeks out Brian's presence, the battle still divides them. Still he slashes a bloody path in his direction. </p><p>And while the bond is telling him he is approaching Brian, he cannot see anything when he dares lift his eyes from the battle right in front of him. There is none of Brian's height topped by his voluminous curls or pointy hat. Nor is there the traces of Brian's magic, it's bright light illuminating the field or the glimmer star like streak it leaves behind. </p><p>But he should- it should be there. Freddie's magic is beyond him now, as his vision turns red, his blood pumping painfully in his skull. Freddie can do nothing but screaming out his pain and terror as he slashes down all in front of him. Tendrils strike out from his weapon without him needing to move it, avoiding protections and sliding in between the junctures to pierce through the weak points. If Freddie wasn't in so much, literal screaming agony, he'd want to replicate this again. He's a talented fighter, and growing ever more so, but he's never been this good, he didn't even know anyone could be.</p><p>Another enemy falls and Freddie is posed for the next when he stops. His magic rushes from his blade to surround him like a cloak of daggers, protecting him from any incoming attack. For there on the ground is the source of Freddie's pain, Brian. He wants nothing more than to fall to his knees and do all in his power to help his love, but first he drives his sword into the ground. It's terrible for the metal, not just blunting it but outright damaging the edge, still the fastest way to put up a ward is by staking his magic into the earth.</p><p>The cloak of daggers extends to form a small dome over them both, leaving them in dark and quiet compare to the raging battle. Freddie crouches down at his love's side, careful not to jostle the man. "I need your stars to see you, my love," Freddie confesses, his voice breaking wetly as he tenderly reaches out. It's true enough, that without any light Freddie doesn't even know if there is somewhere he can apply pressure. Yet it is not all the truth, for what Freddie really wants is Brian, not his magic. </p><p>Delicately Freddie runs his fingers over Brian's face, there is blood coating his hands that he is smearing on the pale skin. Brian would hate it, has already hated so much of this, the battles, the war, having them be killers, yet how can they win if they do not fight? More important than Brian's comfort in this moment is what Freddie seeks out. A pulse and a breath. 'Of course, of course'. Freddie tells himself, he can feel that by the tearing in his chest that Brian must live on if only just. </p><p>He looks up at the canopy of black powerlessly, he knows no healing magic. What can he do but defend his husband's body for as long as the battle will rage? Slowly he stretches his hand open wide, lowering it onto Brian's chest. His magic is- dangerous, to say the very least. It's always been sharp at the edge of his blade and today it's been even more lethal. And he still feels that bloodlust like he's never known, as though the world is very far away and his body is merely a puppet at the end of strings. </p><p>If he is not careful, he fears that much like those enemies he fights, he will strike his beloved. This is not helped by the terrible agony tearing at his soul. As much as Freddie loves Brian, that pain is still his doing, even if neither of them considered it a side effect from their marriage bond. Still he must have courage, do the brave thing and bravery will follow, as roaring as the other two lions that make up the squadron. </p><p>Rather than pierce or strike, his magic detaches itself from his palm as though water running sliding down it. Freddie is happy for once for the darkness of this ward, for he cannot see what his magic is doing to Brian. It's darkness would overtake his love's pale skin, like poison infiltrating his body. It's not much and it might be the completely wrong thing to do, but it's the only thing Freddie *can* do. </p><p>And then he feels it. Before Brian stirs, or speaks, Freddie feels the tearing in his chest ease: Brian being brought back from death's door. Tears are welling in his eyes as he can't help but to sniff, a sob lingering in his throat. Fucking useless, there's still a battle waging, he aggressively dashes at them. Maybe it's also the relief from pain, so great it might well have brought him to his knees if he was standing.  </p><p>That this method is working means that Brian's injury was at least in some part, magical exhaustion. The fatal kind. And while Freddie would like to blame Brian for overdoing it, he far more fears that his husband had to use that much just to stay alive. Freddie should have been there, at his side. And now he's so powerless to do anything.</p><p>When it's enough, he feels it like a bubble popping against his palm. He's done all he can for Brian. Taking a steadying breath he slowly wraps a hand around his sword's hilt. His magic that felt so detached from him, easily latches onto the familiar metal. Carefully he rises, pushing through the dome. The cloak attaches itself to his shoulders as its long train continues to shield Brian. </p><p>Instantly Freddie is in the thick of the fight, many having come to investigate the strange magical occurrence. Freddie's mind is still on Brian, as his soul longs to connect to his soul bond, hear him awake and speak, but there's no time for that. There's so many of them that Freddie cannot parry all their attacks, nor can he dodge as he holds vigil. The cuts to his body are minor but inconvenient, stinging brightly after the wake the absence of the tearing pain left. He grinds his teeth, practically growling, as he tries to focus again on the fight.   </p><p>But his tears have left him weak and the adrenaline is gone making each and every move harder than the last. He feels as though he is trapped in thick syrup, slowing down his limbs and dragging him under. Exhaustion weighs far more than the cloak that thankfully remains. His vision is starting to swim and he fears that now he is the one to be magically exhausted. Not only had he fought a battle, his magic had done what it took to get to Brian's side before being fed to him. Really it's a wonder it's taken so long, but how can Freddie give up? This isn't just his life he's defending but also his husband's. </p><p>He locks his knees and braces himself with everything he's got left. Like predators, they sense his weakness converging on the weak link hoping to take him down with numbers. He takes a stumbling half-step back as he fails to parry with enough strength and the blow strikes against his cheek. This one is only a graze but how much longer until it's not. The battle seems to soon be over, the tide having more than turned, and the inevitable surrender hopefully soon. Just when he thinks he can take no more, pink fills his vision. Roger!</p><p>Roger comes not only with his sharp magic, but his ever trusty shield. Then it is Deaky stepping up on to his otherside, also his shield in hand. As fighters with a one-handed sword and lance respectively, their shields have always been part of their fighting style and so it is natural if not outright easy for them to fend off the attacks while being impregnable. Good, good, that's good. Freddie doesn't know if he's said that out loud as he feels his knees go weak.</p><p>Collapsing onto the earth, his sword slides out of his grip as much as he tries to hold on, next it is his eyes that he can't seem to keep open. Darkness is coming for him again, but this time it is not the same power as his magic. The last thing he registers is a voice, "My chest? My chest!  What's happened, why does it hurt so?" Knowing that his husband is alive is all Freddie needs to know to let himself succumb.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Prompts: magic au, tear it up, side effect<br/>and less directly<br/>they’re on top of the world; gigging with mott the hoople, about to take america by storm, when brian collapses on stage in absolute agony (with hepatitis).  freddie’s never been more frightened in his entire life.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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